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The Circumstantial Man.

Reilly, Gary (author).

It all starts with a dead battery. Or is it dead? Pete Larkey’s decision not to jiggle the wires before heading off to the auto shop sets in motion the worst two days the divorced, unemployed loner living in suburban exile has ever experienced. His car is stolen, a friend is badly hurt, and Larkey finds himself the key suspect in crime after terrible crime. Reilly was a Denver cab driver whose novels, 12 and counting, have all been published posthumously by friends who vowed to share his talent with the world. In addition to his Asphalt Warrior series about Murph the cabbie (Devil’s Night, 2016) and a Vietnam trilogy (The Discharge, 2017), this first stand-alone edges into thriller territory, but it’s still uniquely Reilly: Larkey is an introspective soul for whom his days from hell induce not only mortal fear but existential dread and, ultimately, a search for meaning. More than simply wondering about whether he’ll survive, he wonders what kind of person he really is—and that question is as terrifying as anything. The story is somewhat slow to start, but readers should be patient as this idiosyncratic, absurdist wrong-man scenario works its own kind of magic, casting a spell like a waking nightmare. Rarely has a book about a man forced to dig his own grave offered such a rich psychological portrait. Keir Graff